Dirt only riding areas north of Jacksonville?

[kaosrider]

Well at least you have choices. The 640 would be great for Osceola or some of the forest areas west and South of Jax. My guess is that currently a lot of Osceola is under water, so a good snorkle would be nice. You are looking at a minimum of an hour ride to dirt in any direction from Ponte Vedra.

There is a beach you can ride on at a State Park Heugonot (sp?) which is basically the north jetties of the St John's River where it goes out to the Ocean. However it goes from hard packed sand to deep sand. If you ride up the coast towards Fernandina you can get on some beach there too, again deep sand.

Choices for dirt bikes is limited to Hillard and Lake City Motorcross, which is on your way from Atanlta and also an hour from Jax. From Ponte Vedra, Hillard and Lake City are about the same distance I think..

St Augustine has some areas around that are good to check out on a Dual Sport.

So to be safe you need to bring them both.

Good Luck.

[Queen of Spades]

Where are these places in St. Augustine?

I'm more worried about keeping my babies safe while I'm there. I'm using a storage unit place while at the conference, but will have to use hotels on the way back. The cheaper ones usually have direct outside access (so I can roll the bikes in) but they also have bed bugs. Wish the better hotels had secure places to store motorcycles overnight. The room entrances are almost always inside.

[kaosrider]

Originally Posted by Queen of Spades

Where are these places in St. Augustine?

I'm more worried about keeping my babies safe while I'm there. I'm using a storage unit place while at the conference, but will have to use hotels on the way back. The cheaper ones usually have direct outside access (so I can roll the bikes in) but they also have bed bugs. Wish the better hotels had secure places to store motorcycles overnight. The room entrances are almost always inside.

A loop to areas "near" St Augustine,(thinking you might like the St Augustine area),if you are working out of Ponte Vedra, I would go south on A1A all the way along the coast to Palm Coast. Then turn west and north along N Old Kings Rd to Princess Place Rd (dirt road) that goes back to Princess Place (an old Plantation on the water, now owned by the County.) From there back to Old Kings Rd N to US 1. Go north on it until you get to Matanzas Forest. Ride in Matanzas Forest. Sometimes the gate maybe closed, but I believe there is a phone number (on or near the gate) you call to get a permit number or combo number to enter the gate. If you still have life left, then go west through Palatka (206) until you get to Etoniah Creek State Forest. After that Forest, there is Belmore State Forest, then back to Ponte Vedra/St Augustine. Those are our usual stomping grounds if we are headed in that direction. Google Map those areas to get some idea of the roads etc. Guys, any other ideas? To the North of Jacksonville there is Cary State Forest. Then of course the major Forests which are Osceola and Ocala, which are further away. Not by much though, as an example if you are in Palatka then only another 20 miles south and you can get into Ocala. Ocala though can have very deep sand and the 250 is what you would likely want there anyway. However if you stick to the major dirt roads through Ocala National you would be fine on the 640 as those are mostly hard packed dirt.

Cheers.

[Queen of Spades]

That looks like a pretty good loop, probably a good half day or more ride.

Here it is (more or less) on google maps:

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=P...t=h&mra=ls&z=9

I've all but decided to bring down the Green Mamba and get some laps in at Northeast Florida Motocross up in Hilliam, since it is on the way home.